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Olympic Park tower sculptor Sir Anish Kapoor calls Britain’s treatment of jihadist bride Shamima Begum ‘shameful’ and claims she would be safely returned to the UK ‘if she were white’
- Anish Kapoor designed the ArcelorMittal Orbit artwork in London’s Olympic Park
- He criticized Britain’s treatment of Shamima Begum, who joined ISIS in 2015.
- Ms. Begum’s citizenship was revoked for security reasons when she was found
- Kapoor suggested they would ‘spare no expense’ to bring her home if she were a ‘white schoolgirl from Wiltshire’
The sculptor behind one of the London Olympic Park landmarks has criticized Britain’s racist treatment of Shamima Begum as a “shameful indictment of our national conscience.”
Sir Anish Kapoor, who designed the Orbit sculpture that stands next to the 2012 Games stadium, suggested that if Ms Begum were a ‘white schoolgirl from Wiltshire’ then she would spare no expense to bring her home.
Begum was 15 when she and two other schoolgirls from east London traveled to Syria to join the so-called Islamic State (IS) group in February 2015.
The High Court ruled last month that Ms Begum cannot return to the UK to file an appeal against the removal of her British citizenship.
Now 21, she has languished in the Roj camp in northern Syria for two years, having removed her veil in exchange for sunglasses and a T-shirt.
Sir Anish Kapoor compared Britain to “Soviet Russia” and described Shamima Begum’s treatment as a continuation of “divide and rule”, the horror that sustained the British Empire for 200 years.
Last night Sir Anish compared Britain to “Soviet Russia” and described Ms Begum’s treatment as a continuation of “divide and rule”, the horror that sustained the British Empire for 200 years.
The artist said: ‘Let’s imagine for a moment that four young white schoolgirls from Wiltshire were tempted to go to Syria and join Isis.
‘Would they be seen as terrorists or victims of terrorists?
“We have no doubt that we would demand that they spare no expense and not waste a moment returning to the safety of their homes in England.”
Ms. Begum was 15 years old when she and two other schoolgirls from East London traveled to Syria to join the so-called Islamic State (IS) group in February 2015. The Supreme Court ruled last month that Ms. Begum cannot return to the UK to lodge an appeal against the removal of their British citizenship
He said “Britain has blatantly shirked its responsibility” and accused officials of “deliberately and knowingly eliminating Shamima’s ability to access basic rights anywhere in the world.”
The Supreme Court ruling is a “shameful indictment of our national conscience,” he added.
Begum’s British citizenship was revoked on national security grounds shortly after she was found nine months pregnant in a Syrian refugee camp in February 2019.
She said she married the Dutch convert Yago Riedijk 10 days after arriving on the territory of the Islamic State.
She told The Times in 2019 that her children, a one-year-old girl and a three-month-old boy, had since died.
Their third child died in al-Roj camp in March 2019, shortly after his birth.
Sir Anish said: “Shamima is a British citizen and has the right to be tried in British courts by a jury of her peers for any crime she has committed.”
Criticizing Priti Patel and Sajid Javid, she said that “at the hands of two home secretaries” who are “desperate to prove their right-wing credentials, (her) birthright has been stolen from her and the people of this country.”
And Sir Anish, whose Olympic Park sculpture is a famous landmark, said: ‘This is’ divide and rule’, the horror that sustained the British Empire for 200 years.
“Have we regressed so far to practice this at home?”
He said that Begum’s radicalization, as a schoolgirl, was “an indictment of the lack of care and funding for people of non-white ethnic origin.”
And he said in the statement, co-authored by Tasnime Akunjee, Ms Begum’s family lawyer in the UK: ‘Shamima is the tragic scapegoat of a punitive and ruthless government seeking tough retribution.
Sir Anish Kapoor designed the ArcelorMittal Orbit landmark that stands next to the 2012 Olympic Games stadium
‘What happened to Christian forgiveness? Doesn’t it apply to a woman, and also to a dark-skinned one? It seems that different rules apply.
He added: ‘Is it that some of us are more British than others? Shamima is of Bangladeshi descent, does that change her right to British citizenship?
“I am tempted to think that it does so especially in light of the Supreme Court ruling.”
Britain “needs to show compassion and understanding” and “the fact that Shamima wants to return to the UK shows that she is willing to face the law here for her past mistakes,” wrote Sir Anish.
